The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s most influential lobby for gay and lesbian rights, on Tuesday endorsed ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for President.

The HRC’s ties with the “other” HRC are longstanding. Clinton’s national campaign manager Robby Mook told “HRC-HRC jokes when he spoke to a Human Rights Campaign dinner in Seattle last fall. Mook is the first openly gay manager of a presidential campaign.

Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign: The nation’s most influential LGBT lobby has thrown its support to Hillary Clinton. (Joshua Trujillo, seattlepi.com)

“While they (Republicans) fight to take us backwards, Hillary Clinton is fighting to advance LGBT equality in our nation and throughout the world,” said Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign. “We are proud to endorse Hillary Clinton for President, and believe that she is the champion we can count on in November — and every day she occupies the Oval Office.”

The Clintons have courted the LGBT community for 25 years. “I have a plan and you are part of it,” Bill Clinton told a 1992 fundraiser of gay supporters in Los Angeles.

Yet, he created the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy that kept closeted gays and lesbians in the military. Bill Clinton signed the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act — later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court — that forbade federal benefits to legally married same-sex couples. Yet, the 42nd President did a drop-in at a 2000 Human Rights Campaign dinner in Seattle.

Hillary Clinton campaigned in 2008 as a supporter of civil unions for same-sex couples, but opposed full marriage equality. In 2014, she appeared irritated when questioned by public radio host Terry Gross, and explained: “I think we have all evolved.” Both Clintons signed on to a legal brief urging the Supreme Court to thrown out the Defense of Marriage Act.

Reaction to the Human Rights Campaign endorsement was swift.

“HRC just endorsed the Democrat who took 4 years longer than Sanders to back marriage equality,” Tweeted Dominic Holden, LGBT writer for the BuzzFeed on-line news service.

Bernie Sanders voted against the Defense of Marriage Act in Congress, a fact noted Tuesday by his campaign, which stated:

“It’s understandable and consistent with the established organizations voting for the establishment candidate, but it’s an endorsement that cannot possibly be based on facts and the record.”

The Human Rights Campaign has courted corporate support in ending workplace discrimination. It has enlisted major corporations, including Amazon.com and Microsoft, in support of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would bar discrimination by sexual preference and identity in both employment and and housing.

With the HRC’s endorsement, Clinton has picked up the biggest interest groups allied with the Democratic Party. She is supported by the League of Conservation Voters, NARAL Pro-Choice America and Planned Parenthood Votes. The endorsements have come, however, during a period in which Sanders has steadily gained in the polls.

But Griffin’s eyes appear to be on the November election, with his ears picking up pledges by Republican candidates to roll back LGBT rights.